Down the Rabbit Hole
by LoathingLithium
Summary: We've all heard the tales of Alice in Wonderland. There are many adaptations of the story; books, movies, even a short tv show. There have been spinoffs and ones that have been twisted. But Who wants to know what really happened to Alice? Alison was a girl in the 1950's trying to figure out what is real and what is fantasy in an asylum. So here is the question: Is Wonderland real?


"Alice?" I heard a voice; distant and warm. "Alice, wake up!" I must have fell asleep. Where was I again? I opened my eyes and it was my dear friend, the White Rabbit! I sprung up and hugged him. "You aren't looking so great, Alice. Are you okay?" He must be referring to the dark bags under my eyes and my paling skin. The Rabbit and I go way back. He's actually the first creature I met when coming here to Wonderland! He used to not listen to me or what I said, but now we're actually good friends, I think!

I blink my eyes hard and everything around me starts to shift. The colourful world flashed as a dark and gloomy office with a prim and proper man sitting behind a desk in front of me. "I feel—" The room flashed between the bright and vibrant world and the dark, grey one. "I don't feel so good—"

"That's completely normal, Alison." The man behind the desk said. I now recognized him as my doctor. Dr. Burns, the main doctor and owner of Gold Ridge Institute and Care Facility. My mind flashed back to Wonderland and the white rabbit was skipping in circles in front of me again. "Cheer up, Alice!" He said. My head started to hurt as my mind kept switching between the two worlds.

"Alison, I know the medicine makes you sleepy," Dr. Burns continued, "but can you tell me why you're here? Explain, again what happened." My mind raced, I tried to think of why I was tossed here. My vision switched to Wonderland again, and stayed. "C'mon, Alice!" The white Rabbit said, "We're going to be late!"

"Late for what?" I said. Hearing my own voice was weird—it was deep and distorted. Water began to come out of nowhere and flood my whole little world. "Wait!" I yelled, "Where is all this water coming from?"

"Alice, don't you know?" The White Rabbit asked, "It's coming from the ground!"

"But rain falls from the sky—doesn't it?" My head is spinning, and I can't even remember what's real and what's not anymore. This world was real, right?

"No silly girl! It comes out of the dirt!" He said, chuckling.

"But this water is so, clean. Shouldn't it be dirty?" I was so confused and the water kept rising as I was trying to think clearly.

"Is that how you feel, Alison? Do you feel dirty?" Dr. Burns appeared in front of me, and I realized I had no idea what I just told him.

"wha—what did I just say?" I asked, confused.

"You were trying to tell me why you ended up here. Do you remember, Alison?"

"I…" I hesitated, trying to think. Trying to focus. Memories flashed in my head of what happened.

"Him." I said finally, "I'm in here because of him."

"Who, Alison? What happened?" "Alice hurry! We must get out of this water and dry off!"

"I…umm…"

"Alison?"

"Alice!"

I focused as hard as I could. What world am I in right now? I hear both voices at the same time. My stomach twists and my chest pulls as I release my lunch onto the dreary rug laying on the office floor. Before I can finish, the vile liquid turned into butterflies and flew past the White Rabbit. I followed him, stumbling the whole way. We walked through a small door and walked into a deep dark place where everybody was a bug with insect faces, antennae coming out of their heads and all this dripping and masticating going on with their mouths... Snakeheads were bobbing around every corner. The fear crept up on me as I was looking around at the distorted beings. The dirt path we were walking on melted away and the creatures scattered all about, leaving me alone with the White Rabbit again. I started to feel relieved until my mind switched back to the office again.

"Alison are you with me?" Dr. Burns asked.

"I'm thinking of my life before being here." I replied.

"And?"

"My neighbor did bad things to me Doctor." I said, my voice still sounded slow and distorted, "That's why I'm here. No one believes me and they stuck me here to make me forget. Well I re—" my mind was back in wonderland and my voice got slower, "fuse…" I looked around for the White Rabbit and when I finally found him, he was looking down a hole. When he stood straight up and faced me, I was horrified to realize his head was missing.

"Mr. Rabbit where is your head?" I heard laughing all around me. Was it Rabbit? Was it Dr. Burns? Was it me? I couldn't tell. The Rabbit's head pops up out of his shoulders, "Wasn't that fun Alice?" He asked me. "Wasn't it _fun?"_

"Alison." Dr. Burns snapped his fingers and my eyes widened as I sat up straight, and stared at him, "What?" I asked him.

"It seems like your medication isn't strong enough." He sighed and wrote in his notebook. "Maybe we just need to give it more time." He said with a dejected tone. He picked up his phone and put it to his ear, "Yes Martha. When he is done with room checks, please send James in. Yes. Thank you."

I followed the White Rabbit through the forest, tempted to pick up these weirdly shaped stones. I squinted at them, but kept walking.

"Mr. Rabbit, wait!" I yelled, bending down to pick one up. Just before my hand reached the ground, one of the stones unfolded, and a small crab swung it's pinchers at me. I stood up in fear, and many of the other stones around the little crab opened up. Quickly the whole path started to be flooded with angry little crabs skittering around with their claws up in the air. I ran after the White Rabbit as fast as I could, and we got to the end of the path. Suddenly the livid crabs vanished without a trace. The sound of snapping claws were still in my head though.

"Alice, hurry! We're going to be late! We're almost there!" We ran through the forest until I was completely out of breath, and we ran into a tall figure.

"Rabbit! Here you are, finally! Did you bring the girl with you?" He asked. It was the Mad Hatter.

"Hello, Hatter." I said to him. "It's been a while since I've seen you last."

"Indeed, it has. Not to worry, child. You're going to be seeing much more of me from now on." He said with a sly smile forming on his face. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug and whispered, "There there, friend. I am here." I come back to reality to James picking me up, and dragging me out of the office, down the hallway, and into my room. The whole way I whisper to myself

"My name is Alison Applegate. I'm 18 years old. It's 1958, and I am in Gold Ridge Institute." I keep saying this to myself over and over again. You can't forget Alison. You have to hold onto reality, I tell myself, "My name is Alison Applegate. I'm 18 years old. It's 1958, and I am in Gold Ridge Institute. My name is—um— Alison Applegate. I am 18 years old. It's… 1958, and I am in Gold Ridge Institute. My name is Alison Applegate. I'm 18—I'm 18 years old. It's 1958, and I—I am in Gold Ridge Institute…" Keep saying it, Alison. Don't forget. Don't forget.


End file.
